


Silence

by panchampion



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Black & White | Pokemon Black and White Versions
Genre: M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-11
Updated: 2013-05-11
Packaged: 2017-12-11 14:08:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/799585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panchampion/pseuds/panchampion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After two years of being apart N and Black are finally reunited, only for N to realise that he knows nothing about Black, and has never really heard his voice. Oneshot</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silence

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr for a prompt. First work uploaded here, so hopefully everything worked out okay :)

The lookout spot in Aspertia truly was a beautiful thing, N mused as he leaned over the railing. As far as the eye could see, a peaceful landscape of untainted, pure nature, spread across the region. He could only imagine how many pokémon called that forest their home. They could all live in peace, away from humans, away from battling. Despite the events of the past two years, N still liked to know that there were pokemon free from human grasp. It comforted him to see nature untouched, free to grow and spread as it should. He had grown up somewhere in those woods, before Ghetsis had found him. He had happy memories of the wild pokemon in those woods, the ones who had befriended and raised him.

After two years of self-searching he had to return to Unova. After hearing that Team Plasma, the lost and corrupted organization he had left behind, was trying to regroup he knew he had to return. Again, they had been defeated by some trainer. Just a girl, from a small town, and her friend with the anger management issues, had taken his father on singlehandedly and brought the organisation down yet again. It was doomed to fail from the beginning, from when it began two years ago.

The girl, Rosa, had reminded him of Black. It was hard to watch her travel, to watch her take on Zinzolin and the new Team Plasma, just as Black had with his friends. In a sense, he was reliving the events of two years ago, except this time, he was on Black’s side, and Black wasn’t even there to see it. He had changed so much over the course of the past two years. He couldn’t help but wonder if the other teen was very different too.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs behind him. He turned slowly, his Zorua poking her head out from where she was nestled comfortably in his hair. She jumped down from his shoulders and crouched low on the ground, taking a position of defence for just a moment, before relaxing and running excitedly toward the figure coming up the stairs. N’s features formed into a look of surprise. Zoru usually didn’t take kindly to strangers.

He came to a stop when he saw the figure that was coming up the stairs. N instantly recognised the red cap, the unruly brunette hair, the faded blue jacket, the baggy grey cargo pants. Everything about the boy he had so desperately wanted to befriend two years ago was the same. He would remember him anywhere.

“Black,” he breathed, his blue eyes widening.

“You’re here,” Black mumbled, eyes downcast. “You’re really here.”

There was one great difference between Rosa and Black. Rosa had been a bright girl, someone who knew what she wanted and knew how to get it, as was Black. But Rosa had been very vocal about it. N, in all of his time knowing Black, had never heard him utter more than a few words. He wondered, maybe, if he talked more to his real friends, that Cheren and Bianca that he travelled with. It hurt to think like that. N had always wondered if maybe, things were different, and he had not been the king of Team Plasma, would Black speak more in my presence? For those first few weeks, up until their ferriswheel encounter in Nimbasa city, N had believed they could be friends. Even afterward, he still held onto that hope. Even now, after he had left Unova for two years and travelled the world, he still hoped that the boy who had pulled him into reality would become his friend and stay with him to guide him out of his dream world.

“Where have you been?” N asked innocently. He had figured that at some point, in all of the Team Plasma madness Black would have shown up. It had seemed inevitable to him at the time. After all, Cheren had helped; Bianca had been there, it only seemed logical for the third of their trio to join them in helping Rosa and her friend to bring Plasma down a second time.

He was answered with nothing but a blank look, which then morphed into one of confusion.

“Not here, obviously,” N answered for him, since it appeared that Black wasn’t going to say anything. He had grown used to their one sided conversations. It was always N doing all of the talking, N and Black’s pokémon, which was odd, because after two years of living in the real world, N knew that his social skills were not exactly up to par.

“I’m glad you’re here,” N admitted. “Why didn’t you come earlier?”

“You’ve, you’ve b-been here?” Black looked up, his deep brown eyes widening in shock.

“N-no, not this whole time, anyway,” N stumbled over his words, shocked that Black had actually spoken to him. “I went everywhere. I was in Sinnoh for quite some time, and then I stayed a while in Johto before going to the Hoenn region. I was on my way to Kanto when I heard the news about Team Plasma and decided to come back,” his blue eyes clouded with memories, Black assumed. It was evident that even after all of this time he was still troubled by what Ghetsis had said. “I couldn’t let my fath- Ghetsis, try and destroy the region again.” Black’s expression softened with concern. N was very skilled in the art of reading Black’s emotions from their time spent fighting and travelling together as rivals. If Black was going to be silent then N was going to have to communicate with him somehow. Reading Black’s expressive, deep brown eyes seemed to work just fine.

“It’s okay, Black. I’m fine. Unova is fine. But I’m worried about you,” N stepped closer, trying to read the silent boy. Suddenly, N was knocked off balance as a pair of arms flung themselves around his waist, Black’s face colliding with his chest.

“Oof!” N grunted in surprise, automatically tensing at the contact. “Um, Black? What are you doing?”

He looked down at the boy in his arms. In all honesty, he wasn’t really a boy anymore. It had been two years since they had first met. He wasn’t a fifteen year old anymore, just starting his journey. N realised he didn’t know anything about him. He had no idea what had pushed the boy to run into his arms just now, as they had never embraced like this before. They had never exchanged more than a few words. Each time they had met, his friends did all of the talking. Cheren was loud, brash, and intelligent. Bianca was obnoxious, naive, and optimistic. Black was quiet, mysterious, shy, even. Black had never stopped to tell him about himself, about his plans and dreams and innermost desires. That was something one did with their friends. N realised that he and Black really were not true friends. He didn’t know Black’s dreams, he had no idea what kept the other boy awake at night. But he wanted to. He wanted to get to know him more than anything.

“Black, you are going to have to talk to me at some point. It is considered odd to hug strangers, and the only way to become less of a stranger is for you to actually speak,” N said with utter seriousness. It almost made Black want to laugh. The concept of one of the most socially inept people you know correcting you on your social skills was indeed, a funny one, but Black knew that his socialization skills did leave a bit to be desired, and he couldn’t really judge N. Not after they had been through so much and had still, somehow, managed to cross paths again.

“I feel like you know all about me,” N continued, knowing that he didn’t need to pause to allow the brunette time to talk. “From the moment we met all we ever talked about was me. Well, all I ever talked about,” he corrected. “Are you this quiet around your friends?”

Black looked up from where his face was currently pressed into N’s chest, seeing the conflict written all over N’s expression. His brows were drawn tight in what appeared to be worry, his blue eyes an ocean of uncertainty. N could tell just by looking at him that he received a treatment no different from the one that Black gave Cheren and Bianca. It made his heart fill with joy and sink at the same time, for he couldn’t help but wonder what had caused this.

“Black, I really want to get to know you better,” N confessed. “I don’t understand you. I never really knew you and I let myself think I did because I just wanted you to be my friend and now I have realised that we haven’t seen each other for two years and we’ve both changed and I don’t know you anymore. I never did. But I want to. A lot…” he trailed off awkwardly, unsure of what to say next. He was suddenly hyperaware of his arms around Black’s shoulders, that he was most likely squeezing too tight or holding him the wrong way. He couldn’t stand to look into those large, chocolate eyes anymore. They stood for a moment in complete silence, save for the rustling of the wind in the trees, and N couldn’t decide if he was unnerved because for once, the quiet was comfortable, or because he wasn’t comfortable at all. He had to heavily resist the urge to pull away and run down the stairs, away from it all. But he couldn’t do that. He valued Black’s friendship, or whatever relationship they had, too much. Instead he settled for removing his arms from Black’s shoulder and reaching up to tug his cap over his eyes, a familiar move of self-defence.

“I think we’re friends,” Black said so quietly that it was barely a whisper. N had to strain to hear him, even in the silence between them, but he was still heard. A huge smile lit N’s face.

“Really?” he grinned, voice laden with excitement. His hands began to quiver, just a little, as they often did when something made him feel very strongly. He had to shove them in the pockets of his khakis to make it stop. “Are you… will you try and talk more?” he ventured. All he received in response was a nod. “Black, this is great! I have always wanted to have a human friend! I am going to get you to speak more, I promise. I just want to hear your voice,” N smiled, not caring if he sounded like a lunatic. Ghetsis had always told him to be careful showing emotions when you speak of things other than liberation, but N’s two years of travel had taught him otherwise and now he just wanted to forget.

Black’s eyes were widened with uncertainty, but there was also a spark there too. One of shared happiness. In that moment N knew that he would not mind it if he had to communicate with Black through short, fragmented, nearly one-sided conversations for the rest of their lives, as long as they could be friends. But he also knew that there was nothing he wanted more than for Black to simply talk. To speak for hours on end about anything and anything. N wanted to see him speak when he was happy, truly passionate about something, when he was flustered and unsure, even when he is upset. N wanted to understand Black’s way of thinking, and what better way than to understand his pattern of speech? After all, communication through words was how he understood his pokémon so well.

“You do not have to feel pressured to talk to me, Black, I do not mind,” N assured, absently reaching out to adjust Black’s hat. “But it would be lovely if I could hear more of your voice.”

“I can, I’m going to try,” Black struggled to say, and even though it was only a few words, it seemed to N like a promise, and nothing could have made him happier.


End file.
